Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.

Local League News LWV of the Rochester Metro Area  The Rochester Metro Area League recently collaborated with several community groups to host a discussion of the NYS parole system. Participants viewed a short film, “The Interview”, which shows what coming up for parole is like and how it changed during the era of mass incarceration....
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Youth Committee, Crystal Joseph (campus@lwvnyc.org) and Nick Doran (ndoran33@gmail.com), Co-Chairs Thank you for a fantastic month of feedback, best practices and resources shared through our state-wide regional training sessions. It made Nick and me extremely proud to work alongside each of our local leagues and continue to inspire our youth. All your hard work will allow other...
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young woman studying online courses with a laptop writin gdown notes in a notebook and drinking coffee
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force, Regina Tillman (rmt371@live.com) and Crystal Joseph (campus@lwvnyc.org), Co-Chairs It was gratifying to get the messages of how folks had looked forward to the DEI workshop that had been scheduled with new author, Kimberlee Yolanda Williams and best-selling author, Debby Irving, for April 21st. Unforeseen circumstances required that the workshop...
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Criminal Justice Committee, Vivione Marshall (vivionemarshall@gmail.com) and Richard Rifkin (richardrifkin54@gmail.com), Co-Chairs During the recent budget negotiations, reform of certain parts of our criminal justice system became a central piece of the discussions between the governor and the legislative leaders. There were significant differences with regard to this subject, but in the end a compromise was...
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Issues and Advocacy Sally Robinson, VP for Issues and Advocacy, Sally.s.robinson@gmail.com Erica Smitka, Deputy Director, Erica@lwvny.org 2022 State Budget Wins! The state budget officially passed on Saturday, April 9th. We are pleased that this year many of the League’s budget priorities were included in the final budget proposal. Through our lobbying efforts the League was...
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Redistricting Update (as of April 25, 2022): The League was a strong supporter of the Constitutional amendment on redistricting that was approved by voters in 2014. That amendment established an Independent Redistricting Commission (“IRC”) and adopted a ban on partisan gerrymandering. The IRC initially submitted a set of maps that were rejected by the Legislature....
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Proposed Positions Discussion April 26, 7:00 pm on Zoom   If you have been unable to attend your local League meeting on the proposed positions on election administration and voting while incarcerated, then join us on Zoom on April 26 and have your voice heard. Only members who have NOT or CANNOT attend their local...
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Court Simplification: How Simplifying our Court System can Improve Equal Access for all People Wed, April 27, 7:00 by Zoom   Please join the League of Women Voters of NYS and the Fund for Modern Courts to learn about how court simplification will remove the barriers that impact litigants, families, victims, local government, small business,...
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President’s Message Judie Gorenstein, judieL728@aol.com April 2022 was a very busy month for the LWVNYS On the first two Saturdays of the month, LWVNYS held our final two regional training workshops. At the training in Scarsdale during my opening remarks, I spoke of what two things the past year had taught all of us. We cannot...
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